MELBOURNE'S embattled smartcard public transport ticketing system has hit another stumbling block with the Victorian Government revealing it may not be complete for another two years.

Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky said the Myki ticketing system for trams, trains and buses would be rolled out next year but may not be fully operational until 2010.

"Yes, it's got some delays to do with the software, that's not unusual," she said.

"We're expecting that it will be rolled out next year and fully in place, hopefully, by the end of next year, early 2010.

"That is across all modes and it will be rolled out slowly so that people get used to the new ticketing system as well."

The system will cost about $1 billion, including $494 million in start-up expenses, plus operating costs.

Ms Kosky said Myki would be trialled on buses in Geelong in the first half of this year and progressively rolled out across the transport network.

V/line country services would be fitted last, after trams and metropolitan trains, she said.

Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu said Myki was a fiasco.

"This ticketing system's been a dud from the start, it's a ticketing system which has been flawed in the tender process, the Government's been trying to conceal information, it's overdue ... it's massively over budget and no one can point to any benefits."

THE contract of Victoria's highest-paid public servant has been terminated at the height of the debacle over the introduction of the $1 billion smartcard system for Melbourne's public transport system.Tcard and Myki

NSW residents know what it's like to have a failed smartcard transportation system

Transport Ticketing Authority boss Viv Miners has left his $500,000-a-year job on the eve of a scheduled grilling before a parliamentary committee into the crisis-plagued Myki ticketing system.

Mr Miners was supposed to oversee the delivery of the ticketing system for trains, trams and buses but will leave the job without success - years late on the timetable, well over the budget and with questions over his shareholding in a company linked to the successful bidders.

His contract was "terminated by mutual consent", the authority announced yesterday following a board meeting, although it would not confirm if this meant he was sacked.

Mr Miners's departure came just a day before he was due to face the parliament's public accounts and estimates committee over the bungled project.

The TTA said last night Mr Miners would still attend the hearing and would continue to be available to provide technical advice to the project.

The $500 million system was supposed to be up and running, but is now expected to be delayed until 2010 and the cost has blown out by $200 million.

Transport Minister Lynne Kosky last week admitted Myki was three years behind schedule.

Mr Miners attracted criticism late last year when an audit revealed he had a stake in the company Headstrong, which was a subcontractor to the winning bidder, and once served as its vice-president.

Myki's future remains in doubt. Premier John Brumby, believed to be furious over the delays, pledged to stick with the consortium "for the moment".

The ticketing system contract was won in May 2005 by US company Keane's Kamco consortium with a design that is supposed to allow commuters to use one electronic card to travel on trams, buses and trains and have the correct fare deducted automatically.

Opposition transport spokesman Terry Mulder said Mr Miners owed the state an explanation over his departure.

"He's been Victoria's highest-paid public servant and he's been on the public payroll for a number of years," Mr Mulder said. "Given the perilous state of the Myki project with cost blowouts and delays, I think the public is entitled to an explanation.

"My grave concern is that this project's taking water at a rate of knots. It's sinking. When you look at what happened in Sydney, whereby you've got the contractor suing the Government, the Government suing the contractor, they've all walked away from the project - it does make you very, very concerned about the project here in Melbourne."

The ticketing authority said Mr Miner would not be forced to pay back his bonuses.

As part of an apparent restructure of the TTA, a new chief operating officer for the project was named. Chairman Michael Pryles said Howard Woodall "brings to the TTA a wealth of public transport and card services experience, as well as critical skills required for the project's next phase".

"Mr Woodall's immediate priorities are to focus on budget and program delivery to ensure the complex public transport ticketing system is successfully delivered," Mr Pryles said.

A crucial trial of Victoria's troubled new transport ticketing system has been showing good results, Premier John Brumby said.

The $1 billion smartcard system, known as myki (pronounced my key), is running three years behind schedule and Mr Brumby recently warned that if the trials did not meet expectations, the government could reconsider the project.

"My understanding is that the trial in Geelong has been progressing well, my understanding is that the benchmarks have been achieved for that, so that's a positive step forward," Mr Brumby told reporters.

"There's been no formal assessment of it at this stage but I did have a discussion with the transport minister about this yesterday and she informs me that to date the trial has gone very well and the KPIs (key performance indicators) have been achieved."

The system was due to begin in March last year but will not start operating until 2010 at the earliest.

It is designed to replace the state's existing single or multi-use Metcard tickets with a rechargeable plastic card.

The government has blamed software glitches for the delay.

Former Transport Ticketing Authority chief Viv Miners, who was in charge of delivering the project, left his $540,000-a-year job last month by "mutual consent".

THE Brumby Government is backing its bungled myki public transport ticketing system despite a new $350 million budget blowout.

Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky yesterday revealed the system would now cost taxpayers a whopping $850 million to install plus $500 million to operate over 10 years.

Despite the ballooning costs, Ms Kosky said the system was still expected to be running by early 2010.

She said she was incredibly frustrated with the mistake-riddled system, which is almost three years behind schedule, but said tests for the troubled smartcard were going well.

The staunch backing of the system comes after months of thinly veiled threats from Premier John Brumby that the Government would "have to look very closely at this arrangement" if the latest tests were unsuccessful.

Ms Kosky said the new $350 million was part of a wary approach to successfully implement the smartcard and build commuter confidence.

"We are taking a more cautious approach, making sure that both the technology is working properly and also that customers are feeling very confident with the system," she said.

"There is, as a result, an additional cost to the system of around $350 million . . . "But I believe the new ticketing system, when it's in place by early 2010, will be a terrific system."

The extra money will pay for:

A 12-MONTH extension of the current OneLink ticketing system, which will see concurrent ticketing systems in place for 18 months.

AN increase in each card's capacity from one to four kilobytes.

THE upgrade of ticket machines to accept notes as well as coins and to provide disability access.

"There's no shortage of places where you could spend that money and get much better value for public transport users.

"Public transport users would say the priority is not with the ticketing system, it's with providing basic quality of service."

Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu said the myki project had been a disaster from the start.

"This ticketing system goes from debacle to debacle," he said. "Now we're in a situation where taxpayers are going to be fronting huge amounts of money to prop up a ticketing service in advance of another ticketing service the community isn't comfortable with in the first place."

Ms Kosky said the new capacity of the smartcard would allow it to be used later for other services if required.

Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky said she expected the ads to be used when the myki project was finally launched.

The ads were made by Brisbane-based production company Zoom Film & Television. Zoom spent $115,000 on hotels, location scouts, air fares and production expenses.

Neither Zoom nor Clemenger Harvey Edge would comment yesterday. However, a Clemenger source told advertising industry magazine B&T last month that the Transport Ticketing Authority had been "terrible to work for", and that "the technology problems (with myki) have meant we have shot a lot of ads that have never been screened".

A spokesman for the authority, Adrian Darwent, said the ads would eventually be used, and $400,000 was standard for an ad campaign. "These commercials will go a long way to educating people on how to use the new system," he said. The authority has refused to release stills or details of the advertisements.

Opposition transport spokesman Terry Mulder said the ads could be a waste of taxpayers' money because they might never screen. "They put the cart before the horse. Even before the card works, they are running around making ads to market it," Mr Mulder said.

The Government said it would soon release details of a myki trial in Geelong, which it said had proved successful.

The public transport ticketing system fiasco keeps rolling along as the rail network itself creaks under the weight of demand.

SOME time in the future ? it may be three years, it may be longer ? patrons of public transport in Victoria will hold in their hands a card about the size of a credit card. They will use it to travel on train, tram and bus. They may also, if they wish, buy the groceries with it. When they hold this card and consider how convenient it is, will they also pause and think: "This little card has cost myself and my fellow taxpayers in the region of $1 billion, but it was worth the wait."

The card is myki. Its existence, when it becomes a fact of commuter life, will be testament not to smooth, efficient process, but to the very opposite. It is difficult to summon an example to better serve the label of "monumental blunder" in the implementation of a new service than in the myki fiasco. Its carriage from its first announcement to the world in 2003 by the then transport minister Peter Batchelor to the present under the guardianship of Lynne Kosky has been a journey littered with budget blow-outs, rescheduling on the time of arrival and blood on the tracks. Still, the State Government keeps faith in it, and asks the public to do the same. The Government can hardly do otherwise; it has invested too much time and money to pull the pin on the sorry affair.

The latest instalment, published in The Age yesterday, revealed the Government's optimism in myki, if nothing else. A $400,000 advertising campaign for the card has been sitting on the shelf for almost 12 months. The advertising agency Clemenger Harvey Edge, which is based in Brisbane, completed 10 commercials last year to be used with the card's introduction. The campaign was called The Blue Line. Given the delays plaguing myki, it is as well the ads are being held back. It would be too much to ask of people to recall what they have been shown, three or four years hence.

In May, government contracts for the card showed that its introduction may not occur until 2012. Ms Kosky, however, maintains it will be operational in 2010. Its starting date was supposed to be last year. It was supposed to cost $300 million. That was when it was first proposed. Since then the cost has ballooned to $850 million, with an estimated annual running cost of $55 million. State cabinet was forced last month to dip into the coffers and pull out an extra $350 million for the project. Ms Kosky, while being "incredibly frustrated" at delays, indicated that the Government had underestimated how complex the new system would be to introduce. One month before that, the person given the responsibility for myki, the chief of the Transport Ticketing Authority, Vivian Miners, suddenly departed. It is believed he had lost the confidence of Premier John Brumby and Ms Kosky.

The Government, however, is taking no chances when it comes to not losing the confidence of the public and not underestimating the backlash from commuters; it is keeping the Metcard ticketing system running ? at a cost of more than $200 million ? in tandem for 18 months when myki is introduced. This is no coincidence. A state election is due in 2010. The Government would be aware, and if it is not it should be, of market research done in 2005 and 2006 that revealed commuters would much rather have a better public transport system, than a new ticketing system.

It would seem, to this newspaper, an obvious point. Yet it is one that does not seem to carry sufficient momentum the nearer it approaches Spring Street. It is to be hoped that the mooted $20 billion action plan that Mr Brumby is set to unveil towards the end of this year is farsighted enough that it sufficiently anticipates and accommodates the public transport needs of a state, and a capital in particular, experiencing a boom in patronage. Ms Kosky acknowledged last month that Melbourne had experienced in two years a patronage growth that had not been expected until 2016. When this rise is factored in with Melbourne's surge in population, rising fuel costs, road congestion and the need to tackle greenhouse gas emissions, then the matter takes on the hue of a crisis.

A year ago, The Age reported that the train system was stretched to its limit; 12 of 15 suburban lines exceeded passenger loads set by Connex, and patronage was at a 60-year high. On V/Line, patronage was at a 50-year high. It is true the Government has provided money for new trains, refurbishments and driver training and in the state budget allocated $278 million for rail infrastructure. However, it is also true myki is costing four times that last figure. Priorities have been derailed, and those feeling it most acutely are the commuters, squashed into carriages or waiting for a train that never arrives.

NEW tests show Melbourne's bungled and increasingly expensive ticketing system is still not operating correctly, although authorities claim some progress has been made.But in a show of faith in the beleaguered myki system, Transport Minister Lynne Kosky visited the Transport Ticketing Authority yesterday for the release of the results of a small trial of the system in Geelong.

The trial was conducted on five buses over three weeks in Geelong last month - using staff instead of real passengers - and TTA chief exective Gary Thwaites said it had a 90 per cent success rate. He blamed the 10 per cent failure rate on software problems.

The release of the trial results today coincided with warnings from Melbourne's metropolitan train operator Connex that some lines have hit capacity.

Myki is expected to be operating in 2010 but is already three years late and $300 million over budget, with taxpayers bearing the brunt of the cost overruns.

A fare manual for the long-overdue $850 million ticketing system, obtained by the Opposition under freedom-of-information laws, says myki tickets that do not work will be assumed to have been damaged by the users, and not defective.

"Where there is doubt about whether a ticket is damaged or defective, it will be taken to be damaged," the manual states.

"Minister Kosky will place the onus on public transport users to prove it was not their fault that a ticket could not be used ? despite her recent public exhibition as to how the myki equipment can fail," Mr Mulder said.

Ms Kosky last month visited the offices of Kamco, the consortium building the myki system. While there, she gave up on trying load a $20 note into a ticketing machine after the note was rejected three times. (Kamco staff later pointed out this was due to human error.)

The current Metcard fare manual does not place the onus of proof on passengers but demands $9.80 for a replacement ticket if a ticket is deemed to be damaged.

Acting Public Transport Minister Bob Cameron said nothing would change under myki, despite the manual obtained by the Opposition.

The consortium that has failed to deliver the troubled myki public transport smartcard has been paid $20 million this year by the Victorian government, documents reveal.

The massive payment comes despite the project being hundreds of millions of dollars over budget and the government being able to fine the consortium $50,000 a day for late delivery of the myki smartcards.

Documents released to the Victorian Opposition under freedom of information show the Transport Ticketing Authority paid Kamco $20 million in February this year, Fairfax newspapers reported.

Kamco signed a $494 million contract with the Victorian government in 2005, including big fines for late delivery of the myki system.

Myki is now three years behind schedule and should be completed by 2010.

It will now cost $844 million to install and $550 million to run for a decade.

But the Transport Ticketing Authority sped up payments to Kamco rather than fine it for the delays, opposition transport spokesman Terry Mulder said.

"How many sparkies or plumbers would receive a payment for work in advance if they were three years behind in a major contract?" he said.

Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky said the payment followed the completion of a project milestone.

"The payment was because works set out had been achieved," a spokesman for Ms Kosky said.

"Unlike the opposition, the Brumby government invests in public transport."

VICTORIA'S controversial $1.4 billion myki ticket system will make its long-overdue debut on Geelong buses in December.

Commuters will get the first chance to deliver a verdict on the much-maligned smartcard system on December 8.

But traditional paper tickets will still be available on the buses as myki is finally introduced, over schedule and over budget.

After the Geelong launch, myki will be introduced in Ballarat, Bendigo and Seymour in May.

No firm date has been set for myki's launch in Melbourne, but June 2009 is the tentative schedule.

However, the Melbourne introduction will come too late for 145 buses that have been wired for myki but will be off the road by the time the smartcard is introduced.

Myki was originally scheduled to be in place by March last year and 2100 Melbourne buses have been wired for it, but the 145 ageing buses are about to be decommissioned.

Those buses will have their myki wiring removed. The removal and re-installation of the wiring in a new bus costs $360.

State Opposition transport spokesman Terry Mulder said the need to swap the wiring in new buses was emblematic of the project, which is $350 million over budget.

"A lack of planning and waste has engulfed this entire project," Mr Mulder said. "How many buses does Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky believe will have their myki wiring ripped out before the card is working?"

A spokesman for Ms Kosky yesterday directed queries on the $1.4 billion smartcard - which was budgeted at $300 million in 2003 by then transport minister Peter Batchelor - to the Government's Transport Ticketing Authority.

The ticket system now will cost $850 million to create and install, and will cost another $550 million to run over 10 years.

The Transport Ticketing Authority disputed the number of buses that would have wiring removed. Only six had been decommissioned so far, spokesman Adrian Darwent said.

But sources close to the project said this was wrong and that 34 ageing buses had already had myki wiring removed.

Another 21 will be decommissioned soon, and 70 more buses will have wiring removed before myki is fully introduced.

THE Transport Ticketing Authority and its contractors have decided on a select and secret group to road test the myki "smart card" transport ticket system.

The new system is the $1.4 billion time bomb ticking under John Brumby's Government.

Only one member of the Public Transport Users' Association has been chosen to be in the group of 10 myki road testers in Geelong. That one person, who doesn't want to be named, happens to be blind.

Let's call him Fred, or to be a bit flippant, Freddy. The TTA and its contractor, Kamco, should get full marks for choosing a vision-impaired commuter. After all, myki should be user-friendly to all, especially anyone with disabilities or impairments.

However, the secrecy surrounding the use of Freddy and others as taxpayer test pilots deserves questioning and reflects, yet again, that the myki system is not winning public confidence, despite it draining the public purse.

Before he was given his myki test ticket, Freddy was asked to sign a confidentiality agreement. That reveals one key point: The TTA and Kamco don't want members of the public speaking publicly about tests, conducted in public, on a public transport ticket, using publicly-funded buses.

Oh no. That has to be kept private.

The last time Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky went near a myki machine it was a public relations disaster. The note receptor refused to accept a $20 note and the ticket machine fell off its perch.

So spooked is the TTA about bad publicity, Freddy has been told he can't tell his mates what he is doing or what buses he travels on with the myki equipment. All they know is Freddy has a funny-looking ticket in his wallet and he won't say whether he is being paid to participate.

The last series of tests in the Geelong area - using company staff - recorded a 90 per cent success rate for the troubled system. Given that the cards are supposed to store commuters' hard-earned money, that is not a success rate to write home about or one that inspires public confidence.

Would you deposit money into a bank card that worked 90 per cent of the time and you had to swipe on and off when you went to the bank? For all we know, the system may be on the improve. Freddy and his test pilots colleagues may be experiencing a seamless system.

But I doubt it. The limited feedback is more about advancing in small steps in what has become a painful marathon. The ticket system is three years overdue. Setup costs have blown out by $350 million to almost $850 million, enough to build a fair-sized children's hospital.

The running costs of the system are earmarked as $550 million over 10 years, but the current Metcard system will have to run for an additional two years as a backup system in case myki fails.

That must beg the question about whether the entire project should go the way of the New South Wales experience and be junked in the name of not throwing good money after bad.

While the Government talks about spending billions of dollars on road and rail tunnels, the public is being kept in the dark on a massive project spending taxpayers' funds at a dazzling rate.

AS THE wait continues for Victoria's new $1.4 billion public transport ticket system, the people in charge of delivering it have been pondering: "Should we give ourselves a makeover?"

The Transport Ticketing Authority has taken expert advice from identity management firm CATO Partners on how to reposition its corporate image, a report obtained by the Opposition shows.

The electronic ticket system, myki, is three years behind schedule and its initial budget of $300 million is now $1.4 billion ? including $550 million in running costs over 10 years.

The NTS (New Ticketing System) Progress Report, prepared by the authority in June 2007, includes a timeline for the authority's corporate brand evolution, showing that in 2008 it was to be renamed.

But yesterday the authority distanced itself from the rebranding when asked about it. "There's no plan for any renaming and no plan for any corporate evolution, apart from getting the system up and running," spokeswoman Helen McInerney said.

The report says CATO was consulted on the positioning of the authority and "that a renaming strategy would need to be considered following the delivery of myki".

"CATO has identified a bridging strategy where TTA's corporate identity, including logo type and colours, could be evolved," the report says.

Ms McInerney said CATO's $6000 monthly retainer was for work on the myki brand over two years and any advice on the brand would have been covered by that.

No one at CATO was available to speak yesterday.

The authority was established to deliver the ticket system, due to start in March 2007 but now expected to be rolled out by early 2010.

Opposition transport spokesman Terry Mulder said the report showed bureaucrats were peddling furiously to reinvent the TTA to cover its poor record. He accused the authority and Transport Minister Lynne Kosky of concentrating on corporate image instead of delivery.

GARY Thwaites knows more than most what it's like to be under pressure and to have to work your way through life.

Growing up in Warrnambool in the 1970s, his father died when he was 14, leaving his mother to raise three children.

At 15 he started work in a local shoe store and then experienced a range of jobs, including a few years at the Fletcher Jones factory and a Golden Circle cannery in Queensland.

He even worked as a prison officer before gravitating towards public sector management and major project roles involving communications, such as the Intergraph emergency call system and the State Emergency Services.

Now, at 47, Thwaites is sitting in the hot seat of the Victorian Government, overseeing the introduction of myki, the trouble-plagued smart card supposed to revolutionise public transport ticketing.

Myki is now scheduled to start in early 2010 -- an election year -- and to say the Brumby Government is sweating on it being a success is an understatement.

If the system is not up and running by then, the Opposition will have a field day at the Government's expense. Transport Minister Lynne Kosky must wish she had never heard of the funny-sounding system.

But the reality is that, years behind schedule and way over original budget, myki is having a troubled birth, so much so that the Transport Ticketing Authority has proceeded with the softest of soft launches in Geelong and on Bellarine Peninsula, having sold only about 100 $5 myki tickets on seven bus routes over the past five weeks.

Once the Geelong trial has finished, it will move to Ballarat, Bendigo, Latrobe Valley and Seymour, trying to iron out bugs that have slowed down the system.

Sitting in his office at the Paris end of Collins St, Thwaites admits the original time frame from the introduction of myki was unrealistic and that a similar system overseas would have taken four years to set up.

And he strongly believes introducing the system with one big-bang approach would not have worked. Those trialling the system are being urged to test the equipment to death -- to see how it tolerates the rough and tumble of public transport life.

Buying a ready-made system off the shelf was not an option, Thwaites says, and points to the surge in the number of buses that have to be fitted: 5000, or double the original estimate.

One major policy decision yet to be made involves whether to penalise passengers who don't ``scan off'' their ticket when they leave a tram, train or bus. If you scan on and off, the system will automatically give you the best available price. But if you fail to scan off, the computer doesn't know how far you travelled and how much to charge you.

Minister Kosky will have to make the sensitive decision about fining passengers (by charging them the maximum trip cost) who mistakenly or deliberately leave a tram, train or bus and don't scan off their new-fangled ticket.

Thwaites says he will recommend a commonsense approach to the Minister's office, but he knows the Government's decision will be crucial to the success (or otherwise) of the system.

The myki boss returns to work tomorrow week after holidaying in his home town of Warrnambool, straight back into the hot seat and staring at his computer, which has the state-wide myki start date pencilled in for early 2010. Fingers crossed.

IF you thought your tram ride was already slow, it could be about to get slower.

Testing of the new $1.3 billion smartcard ticketing system has found it takes passengers longer to get on and off trams than using the existing metcards.

The results of the tests, released under Freedom of Information, show it takes an extra five seconds to tag on and off using the myki system.

About 30 passengers were given varying scenarios, such as passengers blocking doors and students with bags, to test the new system in February 2007. The tests found swiping the new myki card took an average of 38 seconds compared with 33 seconds using a metcard.

But the results were not definitive, with the researchers finding it may take longer.

"At 95 per cent confidence all we can say is without tagging: average is somewhere between 29 and 39 seconds, with tagging: average is somewhere between 33 and 43 seconds," the report says.

Opposition transport spokesman Terry Mulder said the Government must reveal how much longer a peak and off-peak travel will take when the new system comes into effect next year.

"In nine of 11 tests, the requirement for passengers with myki passes to either 'tag on' or 'tag off' as they boarded or alighted meant that myki slowed loading and unloading," he said.

"If trams take a few seconds longer at stops, they will inevitably miss traffic lights.

"There will be a knock-on effect as other trams are forced to slow to a crawl.

"Myki is already three years late and at least $350 million over budget."

But a spokesman for the Transport Ticketing Authority said the main purpose of the tests was to understand how customers would interact with new ticketing system devices on trams.

GEELONG commuters have become the first in the state to completely switch to the new myki smartcard system.Every bus in the city and on the Bellarine Peninsula is now converted to myki after old fare equipment was removed over the weekend.

Today marks a major milestone for the troubled system, about three months after it was first introduced in the city.

Transport Ticketing Authority chief executive Gary Thwaites said a few minor glitches had been identified and fixed.

?There have been no problems that have impacted on passengers,? Mr Thwaites said.

Introduction of myki in Geelong has been slow and was initially only on two buses.

?We would much prefer to be cautious and get it right,? Mr Thwaites said.

Commuters have purchased 5100 ?starter packs?, which include reloadable-value cards.

Bus drivers also sell short-term tickets on board.

Mr Thwaites said older passengers had been the quickest to start using myki, which paralleled the Perth experience when smartcards were introduced there.

Unlike Metcard, where a ticket needs to be validated once, myki users need to swipe their cards as they board and leave.

Mr Thwaites said Geelong users had got used to this system.

?No-one had complained bitterly that I?m aware of,? he said.

Seymour will be the next city to convert to myki, and Melbourne commuters were scheduled to be using it later this year or early next year.

The system, which has been dogged by cost and time blowouts, was supposed to be fully operational in Melbourne by 2007.

rob2144

I just recently came back from Melbourne and had visit down to Geelong so I decided to get a Myki, only $5 to get one and its loaded with $5 of "Myki money". It works much the same as our no Go Card, I did find that the scanners weren't as responsive as ours and also the screens are hard to see due to the small text, the text in the pics below have been enlarged for the brochure.

According to www.myki.com.au Ballarat and Seymour are due to be switched on soon.

I know it is late, I know it is costing a lot but it annoys me that the PTUG isn't more constructive in their criticism! I mean really, give the damn thing a go, it could be a central plank to future improvements. If some passengers have swiped twice and been charged twice, yes it could indicate and error with the time in the programming whereby it reads twice too quickly (seemingly fixed by changing the pause time from 8 secs to 12 or something like that), or it could be that people are just getting accustomed to it and or misusing it. We had that in Brisbane. Brisbane is still not perfect a year and a bit on (and I've given up using it while it charges singles only) but it *is* working and many would say quite well. I know that when they get down to analysing some of that travel data my service will improve dramatically. And I know boarding times have improved (much more than the increase in alighting times). Why will my service improve? Cos there are two similar services, one that is patronised heavily, the other that isn't. A small change to service would rectify that and improve patronage overall. It is unfortunate they haven't done it on the qualitative info provided by the community (all too often ignored), but with the quantitive data from the machines, it will be very hard not to make some changes!

Southern Cross station has a myki display area. My observations around the Melbourne network suggest that they are a lot better organised than TransLink and go card. For example, at Carnegie railway station there are two touch readers on the to city side, and 4 readers on the from city platform at the exit. This is excellent as there is a surge at peak. Compare this to Oxley with one reader on the main stairs platform 1 and 2. TransLink is just not with it ... some photographs of the myki display at Southern Cross station.

PASSENGERS using the new myki smartcard in regional Victoria were overcharged 10,800 times in the ticket system's first four months of operation.

And as the launch of the $1.3 billion ticket system nears in Melbourne, it is also now clear that travellers will be expected to pay a $10 fee for the microchipped card, on top of normal ticketing charges.

This $10 myki card will expire after four years, the State Government's Transport Ticketing Authority confirmed on Friday.

A spokesman for the authority said a $10 fee for a myki card was justified. ''Unlike paper tickets, a myki (card) will last for many years, and within just a few weeks of using myki customers recoup the cost of the card when compared to buying short-term tickets,'' Adrian Darwent said.

A number of introductory offers would also occur when the myki card was launched in Melbourne, making the card temporarily cheaper, he said.

Mr Darwent said the teething problems in the first months of the regional program - which saw buses slowed down dramatically and 10,800 passengers overcharged - had been solved. Almost 37,000 myki cards have been sold in regional Victoria.

Myki is Victoria's new public transport ticket, to be used across Melbourne by the end of this year. The smartcard can be topped up automatically or online, and requires users to ''touch'' on and off, or be charged a higher fare.

The smartcard system began operation in March on buses in Geelong, and is now also on buses in Ballarat, Bendigo, the Latrobe Valley, Warragul and Seymour.

Myki equipment is now also installed in 80 of Melbourne's 211 railway stations, on 279 of the city's 495 trams and on 636 of 1600 metropolitan buses.

Opposition transport spokesman Terry Mulder said news of passengers being overcharged using myki came after the Government claimed ''a few early bugs in the system'' had been fixed.

''These 'bugs' are now breeding like rabbits,'' he said. ''Lynne Kosky's myki is gouging money from unsuspecting rural bus users.''

Mr Mulder demanded a halt to the proposed rollout of myki cards until there was proof that users would not be overcharged.

BUREAUCRATS overseeing Victoria's bungled new public transport ticketing system are splurging thousands of dollars on taxpayer-funded cab fares.

Staff at the Transport Ticketing Authority, which is managing the roll-out of the over-budget and over-schedule $1.3 billion myki system, have been catching dozens of taxis within the CBD.

Some Cabcharge slips show short trips were made from "home" back to "home" and one receipt revealed a staff member spent $10.70 catching a taxi from the TTA's Collins St office to the "train/bus".

The TTA said it was trying to reduce its taxi spend, but some taxi trips were unavoidable "where public transport options are limited".

Freedom of Information documents obtained by the Herald Sun show the most expensive taxi trip in 2007-08 cost $150 for a ride to the airport, while the smallest fare was $6.50.

For that year, bureaucrats spent almost $15,000 on taxis.

Opposition public transport spokesman Terry Mulder said the use of taxpayers' dollars on short taxi fares during the day was typical of an organisation in charge of a new ticketing system way over-budget.

"It's absolute rank hypocrisy. Taxpayers already have to fork out another $350 million for the myki system," Mr Mulder said.

"Lynne Kosky's transport bureaucrats are choosing taxis and shunning public transport. It's hardly an endorsement of the transport system."

The myki system, which will automatically choose which fare is best for a public transport customer, is scheduled to be rolled out in Melbourne by the end of the year. It has been plagued by glitches during trials in regional Victoria.

During development, myki set-up costs have blown out from $500 million to $850 million.

Transport Ticketing Authority spokesman Jake Hatton said the TTA had cut spending on taxis by 16 per cent since the 2007-08 financial year.

"We are continuing to work hard on reducing the amount we use taxis," Mr Hatton said.

PUBLIC Transport Minister Lynne Kosky has hosed down expectations of cheaper off-peak fares when myki is launched.

"The Government's priority is to get myki introduced in Melbourne before the end of the year and while it gives the flexibility for new ticket types, the focus remains on myki's introduction,? Ms Kosky's spokesman, Stephen Moynihan, said.

The Minister was forced to respond following comments by Department of Transport secretary Jim Betts this morning, who said the introduction of the myki smartcard could see discounted off-peak fares introduced.

Mr Betts said free pre-7am train travel had been successful and would be retained.

?Maybe that?s a precursor for what we might be able to do more generally,? Mr Betts said.

Myki technology would allow for different fare prices to be charged at different times of the day.

Lower prices could be offered in a bid to encourage people to use public transport during less busy times.

Mr Betts said demand for travel was its heaviest from 7.30am to 9am.

Myki will be operating in Melbourne later this year.

Mr Betts, speaking at a Melbourne Business Network breakfast this morning, said adjusting fares was an alternative to expensive projects.

?When you?re seeing really big patronage growth, it?s easy to say the answer is the government has to write a huge cheque for a lot of capital investment. It?s tempting to do that,? he said.

?But, in reality, you have to explore different ways of managing that demand without necessarily requiring the government to spend millions of dollars.

?One of the options we came up with ? was to look at the fact peak hour demand on our rail system is very concentrated basically between 7.30am and 9am.

?Anything that we can do to make travel earlier advantages the services which existed prior to the peak period might help.?

The myki system will allow changes to be made to the fare structure more easily, Mr Betts said.

?It will give us immensely greater flexibility to be more creative about how we charge people for public transport usage and difference incentives to travel in the off-peak for instance. That?s something we will look at.?

Public Transport Users Association president Daniel Bowen said many people had to travel in peak hour because off-peak services were inadequate.